AP.net Interview: The Menzingers Want You To Become Invested In Music...

Yesterday we called The Menzingers' Greg Barnett and bothered him before he had some friends over for a BBQ. We talked about Rented World, Bruce Springsteen, how people are quick to dismiss new music these days and some other stuff. Read the full interview here and a snippet below.

I think of going on Spotify and looking into the first 20 seconds of something and saying, 'Yeah, it's not for me. I'm gonna put something else on.' It's just that quick. When you had to go to a record store and buy a record, you're almost semi-forced to like it because you just paid $14 for it. Now people are really, really quick to write things off without giving time for an album to really breathe. ... It's just a weird spot for bands that want to try new things without people immediately writing it off.

"I hope that we are a band like that for people, a band that people trust and they want to see what we're doing without writing it off too quickly."

I like that quote a lot, and the Menzingers are definitely a band like that for me. Upon first listen to On The Impossible Past, I thought it was acceptable but I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as the first two albums... and after revisiting it for a few months, I definitely came to enjoy it a ton. I feel the same way about Rented World right now, but I am willing to keep coming back to it, as I'm sure there is a lot of stuff in there that is just not resonating with me at the moment.

I'm working through my second or third listen to this new record. On first play I was turned off by a decent amount of the material but it's growing on me. I think I'll have to listen to it without any distractions or interruptions to appreciate it fully.

It took a little while for this to click with me but I absolutely love it now. Every song is so good. OTIP and Chamberlain both mean a lot to me and I don't think this record tops either of them but I love the direction and can't wait to see how huge the songs sound live.

We should really start posting the audio to these as podcasts. Even if the quality is from an iPhone speakerphone. I'd listen to it.

Pulled out some of my favorite parts:

We've always been the kind of band where, as long as we like it and our close immediate friends like it, that's all that really matters to us.

It was like, 'Oh, that's really cool, what you're doing. I'm gonna try to not fuck up what you're doing there, and I'm gonna play something a little bit softer.'

Just little things...we recorded the drums and the bass live which we'd never done before.

It's kinda funny, we would go to our practice space almost seven days a week, and we'd be in there for five or six hours a day trying to hash out these ideas. But every Friday we would have something called, um, Casual Friday...and on Casual Friday, we would get a case of beer and not really work on stuff. We would be working on something the day before, but instead we'd just play covers or jam the entire time. It was a day where it was totally okay if nothing got done and we wouldn't feel bad about it. So "Transient Love" came out of that, where we were jamming and one thing lead to another and we were like, 'Oh, this is pretty weird. But it's also pretty cool. Let's get into this.'

We should really start posting the audio to these as podcasts. Even if the quality is from an iPhone speakerphone. I'd listen to it.

Pulled out some of my favorite parts:

We've always been the kind of band where, as long as we like it and our close immediate friends like it, that's all that really matters to us.

It was like, 'Oh, that's really cool, what you're doing. I'm gonna try to not fuck up what you're doing there, and I'm gonna play something a little bit softer.'

Just little things...we recorded the drums and the bass live which we'd never done before.

It's kinda funny, we would go to our practice space almost seven days a week, and we'd be in there for five or six hours a day trying to hash out these ideas. But every Friday we would have something called, um, Casual Friday...and on Casual Friday, we would get a case of beer and not really work on stuff. We would be working on something the day before, but instead we'd just play covers or jam the entire time. It was a day where it was totally okay if nothing got done and we wouldn't feel bad about it. So "Transient Love" came out of that, where we were jamming and one thing lead to another and we were like, 'Oh, this is pretty weird. But it's also pretty cool. Let's get into this.'

would be a pretty short podcast. we talked for 15 mins and then i was done transcribing it 45 minutes later. hahaha.

I agree with Menzingers comment. I'll never forget being dragged along to a concert with my parents when I was about 12. There was a band playing they wanted to see. Big deal. I didn't want to go to this elderly concert! Ya, my parents were products of the 60s and 70s and I grew up on a lot of the music, but I didn't recognize the name of the band they got tickets for. I knew I wouldn't like the music - even though I liked most of the other 60's & 70's music. Plus it was gonna be in a small theatre, huh?! We have to remain seated!! No way!! I remember going..I remember liking it right away. But what I remember most in that small theatre is when the drummer started doing his solo, it blew right through my body and lit the light. The band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Carl Palmer opened the door. That is what happens when a person actually listens to more than 20 seconds of a song and gives musicians a chance to be creative.

Did this site have a best of 2004? I remember Tate's best was ... Is A Real Boy, but was there a consensus site opinion? Because PunkNews' was American Idiot and I felt maybe that could have been top of both lists. Also in 2006 The Devil and God was top of PunkNews and could have been for AP.net as well. Any help?

Did this site have a best of 2004? I remember Tate's best was ... Is A Real Boy, but was there a consensus site opinion? Because PunkNews' was American Idiot and I felt maybe that could have been top of both lists. Also in 2006 The Devil and God was top of PunkNews and could have been for AP.net as well. Any help?

Looks likeDog Problems got #1 in 2006. I can't help with '04, but I don't think that people around here like American Idiot enough to vote it #1.

Did this site have a best of 2004? I remember Tate's best was ... Is A Real Boy, but was there a consensus site opinion? Because PunkNews' was American Idiot and I felt maybe that could have been top of both lists. Also in 2006 The Devil and God was top of PunkNews and could have been for AP.net as well. Any help?

shocked that Punknews chose American Idiot in 04. i personally am a fan of that album but just really surprised that site chose it